Denver City Council President Michael Hancock, right, listens as Mayor John Hickenlooper makes a final presentation on Nov. 9, 2007, before the council voted 9-3 to override the mayor’s veto of a measure concerning pay for Denver employees.

The clash that led the Denver City Council to defy Mayor John Hickenlooper to boost pay for city employees boiled down to business vs. labor.

In the end, labor claimed victory, walking away with a 4.25 percent increase in base pay for city workers next year, up 1 percentage point from what the mayor proposed.

The mayor was unable to sway any of the nine council members who voted Monday to amend his budget to give city workers $2.6 million more in pay next year than the $7 million he thought was fiscally prudent. He vetoed the measure Thursday night, and the council overturned him Friday afternoon by a vote of 9-3.

Downtown business leaders got involved late in the process after labor already already had locked down support.

In a mass e-mail sent after the council amended the mayor’s budget Monday, Tami Door, president and chief executive of the Downtown Denver Partnership, had encouraged businesses to target Council President Michael Hancock and Councilwoman Peggy Lehmann. Door urged business leaders to e-mail Hancock and Lehmann to flip them to the mayor’s side.

“The business community has consistently expressed support for the mayor and his leadership team and believes that their solid financial stewardship is reflected in the original budget,” Door wrote.

Her e-mail drew a sharp rebuke from Hancock, who e-mailed Door back Friday, saying he was “disappointed” that she had encouraged her membership to lobby council members.

“At the very least I wish you would have called to get our perspective on the issue,” he wrote.

Lehmann said she found the lobbying attempt by business interests too late and unpersuasive.

“It was poor politics on their part,” Lehmann said. “They were calling me three hours before the override vote. I thought it was way too late.”

She noted that labor leaders lobbied her weeks ago, flooding her with information. Labor – notably the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees – also persuaded Hancock. He said Monday during the original amendment vote that he had met with city employees who persuaded him to come to their side two hours before he was scheduled to vote on the matter.

Other forces were at work in addition to labor.

Denver Councilwoman Carol Boigon, the catalyst for the pay increase plan, briefed city Auditor Dennis Gallagher and secured his support early on, said Gallagher’s spokesman, Denis Berckefeldt. The mayor never got around to trying to sway Gallagher, who could have provided ammunition to the mayor’s argument that tight finances should restrict city salaries.

The mayor told the council on Friday that increasing raises for employees would harm a bonus pay program he instituted that pays workers extra if their agencies meet measurable goals. (Council members tapped that program to fund their plan). He warned that a downturn in the economy might be in the offing.

“This is a short moment of disagreement in what I hope will continue to be a powerful and fulfilling relationship,” Hickenlooper told the council after Councilman Charlie Brown invited him to the podium to speak on the subject.

But Hancock, Boigon, Lehmann and fellow council members Rick Garcia, Judy Montero, Paul Lopez, Chris Nevitt, Marcia Johnson and Doug Linkhart would not budge on an issue Hickenlooper considered at the core of his incentive-based philosophy.

Boigon said she was surprised the mayor didn’t support her position in the end, but that she expected no ill will would develop.

“We would all like to come together and work for the city after this,” she said.

John Bennett, former staff director for the City Council, said he doubted the clash would harm future city business.

“I think if they take (Hickenlooper) on, he’s a forgiving guy,” Bennett said. “He might be slightly peeved for a few minutes, but I don’t think it lasts.”

Christopher N. Osher is a reporter on the investigation team at The Denver Post who has covered law enforcement, judicial and regulatory issues for the news organization. He also has reported from war zones in Africa.

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